You just can’t get good tribble kebab down at the Hogan Brothers. Or anywhere else on earth, for that matter. That’s the problem with some of the delicious-sounding foods in our favorite fantasy books and movies; all too often they exist only in the author’s imagination. It was the mission of Benton (science fiction and fantasy) House to rectify that condition.
Last weekend the folks at Benton House held a potluck to celebrate science fiction and fantasy foods by recreating them in real life. Everybody in the Carleton community was welcome to pitch in – but no Soylent Green, please. The fact that we do, in fact, live in the real world meant that some of these recipes required a lot of creative workarounds. You can’t obtain real frogs for Frog Drops, and nobody knows what Romulan Ale is actually made of. But we’re Carleton students, and we found a way. The tasty dishes ran the gamut from Star Trek to Redwall to Harry Potter, as well as the old classic, lembas.
Deeper n’ Ever Turnip n’ Tater n’ Beetroot Pie:
(makes two)
• Two pie shells
• 1 beet (use rutebaga if you detest beets or if you don’t want to turn the pie pink – recommended)
• 4 turnips
• 3 potatoes
• 2 carrots
• 2 onions
• a nice glopful of sour cream
• Olive oil, salt, bay, rosemary, thyme, oregano
Preheat oven to 350º. Peel the turnips and the beet. Cut turnips, beet, potatoes, and carrots into 1-inch chunks. Toss in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and herbs. Spread the vegetables out in a 9x12 baking dish and bake in the oven 45 minutes. Meanwhile, chop onions up finely and caramelize on the stovetop. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir in sour cream until the mixture is thick.
After baking, the vegetable chunks should be tender. Load them into the pie shells, then pour the sour cream/onion mixture on top. Bake another 30 minutes, just until the topping is golden brown and delicious.
Warning: very crumbly. You might have to serve it with a spoon.
Cockroach Clusters:
• 1 package gummi worms
• 1 package dry chow mein noodles
• 2 packages semisweet chocolate chips
Cut gummi worms into large chunks. Add to a large bowl along with chow mein and stir. Heat chocolate chips on a double boiler until just melted. Pour melted chocolate onto chow mein and gummies and stir until coated. Immediately spoon onto baking sheets and let cool.
